The bet of the week probably lies across the pond where Woods makes his season debut at The Buick Invitational in California, a tournament he has won for the past two years and four times in the nine times he's started.
At 7-4 against, with only Veejay and Phil from the world's top 18 to keep him company, the 'meagre' odds seem very generous to be fair! Some bookies are even tempting punters into having a punt on both Woods and Els winning their respective tournaments with a double bet odds of 22-1...!
But, let us concentrate on the EPGA for now...
Balance before tournament: £490
Selections:
Ernie Els, £3 to win 15-2F
Henrik Stenson, £3 to win 11-1
Robert Karlsson, £1 e/w 25-1
Nick Dougherty, £1 e/w 40-1
Balance after stake (pre-tournament): £480
=========================================
Result:
Els- R1:9th, R2: 20th, R3: 9th, FINAL POS'N: 3rd
Stenson- R1: 5th, R2: 4th, R3: 4th, FINAL POS'N: =7th
Karlsson- R1: 19th, R2: 29th, R3: 21st, FINAL POS'N: =22nd
Dougherty- R1: 5th, R2: 13th, R3: 15th, FINAL POS'N: =16th
Winnings: £0
Profit or loss: -£10
Final balance to take to next tournament: £480
Comment: Interesting to note that last week's winner Paul Casey missed the cut here, along with 2004 Qatar winner - Joakim Haegmann, and John Bickerton who is playing, (and just as importantly here, putting) very well. Darren Clarke on his season debut also failed to perform, (this might last some time this year, for obvious reasons), scoring seven over for two rounds and missing the cut by a long way...
Ok. The 'bet of the week' described above, ie Woods to win the Buick at 7-4, of course came in - which is something I suppose, but does NOT count for this tipping machine...
Annyyywwaaay....
Regarding the Qatar Masters tips -
Els didn't really start firing on all cylinders until the final round, but still finished 3rd at 13 under par. A solid season debut from the 'Big Easy', but not quite what he or we wanted.
Henrik Stenson briefly challenged for the title even in the final round, but finished =7th with a score of minus eleven.
Dougherty was very 'mercurial' during the last 3 rounds, bobbing up and down the leaderboard like a yo-yo, but couldn't really find any consistency and finished =16th at -8.
Karlsson, a bit like Dougherty, was also on the leaderboard at times, but slipped away to finish at -6, in =22nd position.
The tournament was snatched from reknowned bridesmaid "Pallid Nick" (my nickname for the queezy-looking Australian 'freaky' left-hander), by Retief Goosen who birdied the 17th and then EAGLED the last, to win by one stroke at fifteen under par! Poor old O'Hern must have thought the title was very very nearly his. Again!
Another 'bridesmaid' (who also just happens to be an Ozzy left-hander) in the shape of Richard Green, and another Australian, Stuart Appelby, (making his first appearance at Dohar - thanks mainly to his dislike of the 'Buick Invitation' course at Torrey Pines on the USPGA tour) made the frame, along with Graeme McDowell - nice to see.
Interesting to note also at Dohar, a possible return to form (at last) of our last major winner - Paul Lawrie, after last weeks return to form of another stalwart Scot, the dour-faced Gary Orr. I DO hope these two have a good season.
In summary then - a tournament for the 'Southern Hemisphere boys' this year, and more solid performances from the tips but STILL awaiting a return!
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